142 THROUGH THE HEART OF PATAGONIA 



companions, whom he had lost when running ostriches. As we sat ' 

 there upon our horses and looked from the man to the great clouds 

 of smoke which were arising from the direction of the Fenix, of 

 which he was the miserable author, one felt inclined to throw him 

 in his own fire. For whereas, whenever I or my men lit a smoke, 

 we were careful that it should burn but one bush, and not spread 

 to scar and disfigure the face of the country, this irresponsible little 

 being, who had, as it were, ridden to meet us out of the nowhere, 

 persistently lit his reckless fires among the best grass, so that they 

 burnt huge areas. It was a remarkable, and in its way a painful, 

 reflection that this puny bit of humanity with his box of cheap 

 matches could do more harm in half an hour than he would be 

 likely to be able to repair during a lifetime. The fact is, a fire will 

 burn a very small area upon the pampas near the coast, where 

 there is little for the flames to take hold upon, while here in the 

 high grass, near the Cordillera, it may rage for two or three days, 

 devastating and blackening the landscape. 



Rather annoyed with the small man, I directed Barckhausen to 

 ask him why he had lighted so many smokes. He replied that he 

 had done so in order to recall his companions. As the man was, 

 after the fashion of the pampa, our guest, there was nothing more 

 to be said on the matter, but had I foreseen how much trouble his 

 mania for raising smokes was yet to cause us, I should probably 

 have remonstrated with him. 



That evening, as we rode into Rosy Camp, we saw a number 

 of flamingos upon the lagoon, and shot an upland goose. The 

 following morning I woke up in the grey of the dawn to see a Cor- 

 dillera wolf nosing among the ashes of our camp-fire. I shot it, to 

 the great delight of the small man, from whom after breakfast we 

 parted. We had not advanced a mile before the little demon was 

 again sending up a smoke to heaven. Burbury, who met him after- 

 wards, said he believed that he carried a cargo of nothino- but 

 matches in order to be able to indulge to the utmost his passion 

 for destroying the country through which he happened to be 

 passing. 



On December 7 we arrived above the River de los Antiguos, 

 and, as we were about to descend the barranca, saw two columns 



